1387 New Alert

Like so, the Adonis followers began to hasten their approach.

And over the towering city walls, a burly man with a long black and gray beard stood majestically, watching the enemy continue their fired waves of attacks.

"City Lord, please... You have to leave!" Replied one of the men standing behind him.

Rupert's hands tightened against the walls, looking at the scene in utter silence.

"Where is my family?"

"City Lord, just as you've requested, we've tied them up and sent them out."

If they didn't tie them up, these people wouldn't leave, dying for honor.

In fact, over the last couple of days, even allowing people to vacate was quite a challenging task.

Some proclaimed that they would rather die in their properties than flee a battlezone... And these were ordinary farmers who held their pitchforks and sat in front of their doors as though waiting for enemy attack.

As a warrior, Rupert admired their fighting spirit.

But as a city Lord, it was troubling.

You have to know that even if these people infiltrated the city, they wouldn't kill the ordinary folks.

If you kill all people in Omania, who will you rule over?

No...

They needed the ordinary folks to continue farming and feeding their armies. Cleaning, booking, timber, fishing, harvesting ores, building, hunting for food, merchandising in the city, opening food stalls for gathering money into their pockets, and many other reasons were why they didn't kill them.

But knowing how stubborn the majority of people here were, they would fight on the spot and get killed instead.

Of course, these intruders can't kill everyone because that would also leave them at a loss.

These people came to conquer and not divide tasks and do manual labor.

So there will always be a balance to things.

First, they might pick a few and kill to make an example.

But what happens if the people aren't phased at all by the example?

His people were hot-headed and felt it an honor to die that way.

They would provoke the enemy even more.

That is, even if they died, they would all start a big riot, wanting to take as many enemies to the grave as possible.

And to further control matters, the enemy might have to chain them up and allow them to work... Similar to how the ancient Egyptian ordinary folks back on earth got chained and whipped when working.

This battle has been going on for a week now.

And on day 2, he called every one, issuing out his order.

He knew his people very well. If he didn't give them a mission, they would act too rashly.

Thus, he told everyone to act fearful of the enemy, gathering information and doing their best to survive until hope comes their way.

That's right.

He had bundled up his family, sending them with several guards away via the hidden exit.

They were to head straight for the Capital, informing his majesty Abrodius of the situation at hand.

He was also not worked up about the enemy finding the secret escape path because it was somewhat... As they say, enchanted.

The strange vines blocking the path could only open via extraordinary methods that only he and a few knew.

Those vines hovered over the secret wall were impenetrable.

So forget it.

That said, he also had over 90% of the guards across the city flee with his family.

Of course, they will be back, joining the reinforcements to take down those intruders.

If they stayed here, the enemy would put them to death!

Rupert looked at a few of the guards and chuckled.

"Are you all sure?"

The guards behind him looked at the sky, closing their eyes only briefly.

The faces of their loved ones flashed within their minds.

The good, the bad, the fun and the miserable memories of some family members passing from illnesses all reminded them of just how human they were.

"City Lord, we will fight and die with you."

'Wife, daughter, son, family... Sorry...'

They would never see them again.

But someone had to keep the attacks raining to distract the enemy and give ample time to flee.

The hidden passageway led to the outskirts facing the Capital's direction.

However far, it could still be caught up with if the enemy entered now and realized they were missing.

Thus, the men on the walls never stopped attacking, as though confident in their victory.

Rupert smiled, knowing that his life was coming to an end.

In short, the enemy might lock him up in the dungeon, trying to get out as much information as they could.

But for how long?

If whatever they wanted to uncover was found, he would be killed.

Yesterday, Rupert had kept all important documents in the palace vault.

Yes! Just like the hidden passageway, the doors to the vault that the enchanted vines alive them.

The enemy would do anything to enter that place; maybe that would be why they would keep him alive.

The enemy might not even know that it's a vault, thinking that he kept his family and the other 80% of the city guards in some strange oasis.

According to the city's history, there was a powerful ancestor thousand and thousands of years ago that had the power to manipulate and grow these vines.

He positioned several enchanted vines here and across many regions within the empire.

His legend lives on because he used to walk on water, relying on his vine powers from the Vine God!

He was a powerful Omanian whose legend still resonated across the land.

Thousands and thousands of years later, the vines had never lost their power, still maintaining their enchantment.

It was thanks to his firm belief in the vines that Rupert felt relieved.

Sigh...

Good times.

He indeed lived a true and fulfilling life.

But now, his fate was hanging on a string.

Rupert looked to the heavens in distress.

'Please, oh wise Vine God... Please, send your holy aid to us.'

~Ding!